Next weekend, the group will celebrate this slightly unusual milestone with a get-together for past and present members at Dunedin Public Library.
Celebration convener Robyn Thorburn said the event would be a chance to reconnect with some of the group’s older members, who pulled back during the Covid pandemic and lost touch.
"We would dearly love to see those people again and have the chance to catch up and celebrate our shared history," Mrs Thorburn said.
"It has been a challenge to track down some of our former members. It has taken all of our genealogy skills to find people.
"But this is also a call for anyone who would like to come along to get in touch with us."
For members of the NZSG Dunedin branch, researching genealogy is a labour of love.
Branch secretary Heather Bray said she had found delight for many years in researching family — her own and her husband’s — and taking part in projects such as transcribing the inscriptions at cemeteries across the region.
In fact, a project to inscribe cemeteries was at the heart of the society’s beginnings, after a small group of enthusiastic genealogists came together to do the cemetery work.
Over the years, NZSG Dunedin branch members have worked their way through all 32 cemeteries in the greater Dunedin area, including private cemeteries.
"Walking among the headstones of a historic cemetery is fascinating, and it is vital information to keep," Mrs Bray said.
"After the Christchurch earthquakes knocked over a lot of headstones, those names and details could have been lost, if not for the transcribing that had been done."
About 10 years ago, Mrs Bray also undertook a research project to study and transcribe the names of fallen soldiers on World War 1 memorials across Otago and Southland — gathering a lot of fascinating information in the process.
Mrs Thorburn was inspired to return to genealogy after receiving a partial family tree from an aunt, and wanted to expand it to learn more about her ancestors.
"To us it is part of everyday life, and it really helps to connect us to our families."
Mrs Bray said the advent of DNA testing services and online records had helped to popularise genealogical research, but there was really no substitute for written records and libraries.
The NZSG Dunedin branch holds extensive genealogical resources in the McNab New Zealand Room on the third floor of Dunedin Public Library, including books, manuscripts, microfiche, newspapers and old school records.
The group also has regular gatherings from 7pm on the first Wednesday of each month at its 3rd floor heritage room in the library, and a drop-in session from 2pm-4pm on Sundays, when trained members volunteer to assist people doing genealogy research.
"We love to see people taking an interest and starting on their genealogy research and it would be great for them to come along to our gatherings and research sessions. There’s a lot we can do to help," Mrs Bray said.
• The NZ Society of Genealogists Dunedin branch will celebrate its 55th birthday on Sunday, September 15, with a get-together for past and present members and afternoon tea from 1.30pm in the Dunningham Suite, 4th floor, Dunedin Public Library.
Anyone interested in attending is invited to email dunedin@genealogy.org.nz
